Norman Foster and the Trustees of the non-profit Norman Foster Foundation today announced that this new independent institution for interdisciplinary research, education, and projects in the fields of architecture, design, and urbanism will open its headquarters in Madrid in June 2017.

To mark the inauguration, the Foundation will present the day-long global forum Future is Now, bringing together leading design practitioners, policy makers, scholars, and artists. The Forum will address tomorrow’s foreseeable social, economic, and design challenges and how they are affecting our interactions today with the built environment.

Norman Foster and the Trustees have also announced the appointment of the inaugural Director, architectural historian and curator Maria Nicanor, who joins the Foundation from London´s V&A Museum and New York´s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

The Norman Foster Foundation promotes interdisciplinary thinking and research to help new generations of architects, designers, and urbanists anticipate the future. The Foundation believes in the importance of connecting architecture, design, technology, and the arts to better serve society, and is committed to the value of a holistic education that encourages experimentation through research and projects.

Since 1999, the Norman Foster Foundation in London has provided yearly travelling fellowships through London´s Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) to encourage architecture students and scholars to travel anywhere in the world to pursue research about the future of cities.holistic education that encourages experimentation through research and projects.

At the Foundation’s core is its Archive, a world-class facility established in 2015 and now available to scholars for the first time, which constitutes the primary source of information on the life, work, and ideas of Norman Foster and the practices he has led. The Archive´s holdings span from the 1950s to the present, with more than 74,000 items inventoried to date. Materials including drawings, models, photographs, sketchbooks, and memorabilia continue to be added on an ongoing basis. The Archive´s database is openly available online through the Norman Foster Foundation’s website.

The Foundation’s first built project was the Droneport, which was unveiled at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2016 and which is on permanent view at Venice’s Arsenale since March 2017. The Droneport is a new building type that can be constructed by local communities in Africa as a civic and social hub, landing site for drones, and center for drone manufacture. Development of a network of Droneports would allow for the delivery of medical supplies and other necessities to areas that are difficult to access because of a lack of transport infrastructure.

The decision to establish the Foundation as an independent entity, separate from the architectural practice of Foster + Partners, grew out of the perceived need for a permanent physical space that could house the Archive and study center, receive students and graduates, and present programmes and projects.

Starting in June 2017 and coinciding with its launch in Madrid, the Foundation will announce a series of educational and research initiatives, projects, and publications forged in collaboration with likeminded institutions around the world. To date, the Foundation has collaborated with institutions including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge (MIT), the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH), the École Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne (EPFL), the Polytechnic University in Madrid, and the University of Cambridge and Bournemouth University in the UK.

Norman Foster stated, “The birth of the Foundation grows out of the aspiration to help new generations to be better prepared to anticipate the future, especially in times of profound global uncertainty, and in particular to assist those professionals who are concerned with the built environment. Behind all this is our belief in the value of architecture, infrastructure, and urbanism to make a difference for the collective good. This may have a utopian ring to it; but the reality is that everything that surrounds us is the result of a conscious act of design. The quality of design determines the quality of our lives.”

The Foundation’s governance body includes renowned figures in the fields of architecture, design, and innovation. Find the complete list below.

The inaugural forum of the Norman Foster Foundation, Future is Now, will be held in three sessions dedicated to cities, technology and design, and infrastructure. Each session will feature a keynote address, an interview, and a moderated panel discussion in English and will be live streamed at www.normanfosterfoundation.org.

The first session, “Cities,” will have a keynote by Norman Foster. An interview with Michael Bloomberg, philanthropist, entrepreneur and three-term Mayor of New York, will be conducted by Francine Lacqua, Editorat- Large at Bloomberg. The panel discussion will feature Michael Bloomberg; architect and artist Maya Lin; Richard Burdett, Professor of Urban Studies at the London School of Economics; and Norman Foster.

The second session, “Technology and Design,” will have a keynote by Matthias Kohler, Professor of Architecture and Digital Fabrication at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. An interview of Jonathan Ive, Chief Design Officer of Apple, will be conducted by Gillian Tett, US Managing Editor of the Financial Times. The panel discussion will feature Niall Ferguson, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution; Nicholas Negroponte, Co- Founder of the MIT Media Lab; designer Marc Newson, Professor of Design at Sydney College of the Arts; architect and designer Neri Oxman, founder and Director of the Mediated Matter Group at MIT Media Lab; and designer and architect Patricia Urquiola, founder of Studio Urquiola.

The third session, “Infrastructure,” will have a keynote address by Alejandro Aravena, Executive Director of Elemental. An interview of Henk Ovink, Special Envoy for International Water Affairs for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, will be conducted by Christiane Amanpour, Chief International Correspondent for CNN. The panel discussion will feature Luis Fernández-Galiano, Professor at ETSAM and Director of AV/Arquitectura Viva; Jonathan Ledgard, Director of Rossums Group, founder of Redline and former Director for Afrotech of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne; Mariana Mazzucato, Director of the University College London Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose; Henk Ovink; and Janette Sadik-Khan, Principal for Transportation at Bloomberg Associates.

Following the third session, the forum will present a public conversation between artists Olafur Eliasson and Cornelia Parker, before ending with concluding remarks by Norman Foster.

The Foundation will work globally from a former residential palace on Madrid’s Calle Monte Esquinza, which houses its Archive, Library, and study spaces. The Norman Foster studio within the Foundation has designed and realized the Pavilion, a new one-story structure in the Foundation´s courtyard. Contrasting with the historical building, the Pavilion uses a laminated glass wall structure to support a glass fiber roof to create a floating structure with no visible means of support.

Artist Cristina Iglesias has designed a canopy to cover part of the entrance courtyard, which also provides shade for the façade. The Pavilion will be used for the Foundation’s programmes and events and will also house a collection of objects and visual material that has inspired Norman Foster throughout his career.

KDA redesigned 1,800m2 of luxury goods retail space on the ground floor of Selfridges & Co’s famous Oxford Street store. Finding inspiration in the way stores fit neatly behind the existing architecture of London’s Victorian shopping arcades, and in the notion of wunderkammer – room-sized displays of interesting or exotic objects – KDa created the Wonder Room, a spaced that housed “a luxury goods emporium with the energy of a souk.”

They devised an elegant wall of white-coated aluminium fins that runs around the perimeter of the room, floating elegant polished stainless steel display cabinets between the fins. Rather than giving the individual brands complete freedom of expression, all the concessions are placed behind this façade, giving the Wonder Room a degree of uniformity and order. In the centre of the Wonder Room, KDa placed glass and high-gloss lacquer cabinets for the display of smaller items such as fine jewellery, watches, and luxury mobile phones.

An icon of British culture, Selfridges & Co. operates a series of high-profile department stores across the country. Selfridges’ London’s store opened in its exclusive Oxford Street location in 1909, and is one of the largest stores in Britain. Since its earliest days, the Selfridges sought to make shopping an adventure rather than a chore, and the store gathered and displayed goods from around the globe to amaze and excite its customers. From its earliest days, Selfridges was a place where shoppers could find wonders they could see nowhere else – the first public display of a television took place on the first floor of the Oxford Street store in 1925. This innovative approach has made Selfridges a world leader, setting the pattern for department stores around the globe.

In the lead up to Selfridge’s 100th anniversary celebrations KDA were asked to undertake a birthday revamp, redesigning 1,800m2 of luxury goods retail space on the ground floor of Selfridges’ Oxford Street store. The brief was to accommodate store-in-store concessions for nine luxury brands – including Chanel, Cartier, and Chrome Hearts – selling goods from jewellery to high-end mobile phones to exotic rare books. KDa’s goal was to reintroduce the surprise and wonder into the shopping experience, and create a department store for the 21st century.

Returning to London, where both Astrid and Mark had lived and studied in the 1980s, they were impressed by places such as Burlington Arcade. Compared to the chaotic shopping areas in Tokyo where stores compete for attention, the architectural setting dominated the individual stores to give the large number of outlets a sense of uniformity. “Places we would have overlooked as locals became very interesting, places where brands fit neatly behind the existing architecture of a building that they are forced to respect,” says Dytham. Another key inspiration for the design was the notion of wunderkammer, known in English as “curiosity cabinets”. These encyclopaedic collections were room-sized displays of interesting, exotic, or charming objects from all over the world, and are the predecessors of modern museum collections.

Combining these two ideas, KDa created the “Wonder Room”, a space that houses “a luxury goods emporium with the energy of a souk.” The key element is an elegant wall of glass and white-coated aluminium fins that runs around the perimeter of the room. Beautifully polished stainless steel display cabinets float between the fins, and the concessions are placed behind this uniform façade. The fin wall allows the individual brands a degree of flexibility in setting out their displays while giving the Wonder Room a degree of order, and calm.

The design of fin wall has a cunning directional effect – to shoppers strolling past each concession the wall is transparent and offers clear views of the goods on display within. Look along the wall, however, and it becomes an opaque screen; the brands disappear, the visual clutter typical of department stores is streamlined, and the wall becomes a background to the overall Wonder Room.

One of KDa’s goals for the project was to show respect to the Daniel Burham-designed building. The retail floor had undergone a number of unsympathetic refurbishments over the years, the ceiling being lowered to accommodate air conditioning and lighting. KDa cleaned out these accretions, restoring the ceiling to its original height and re-establishing the elegant proportions of the space’s Corinthian columns. The air conditioning was placed under the floor, air being delivered through vents artfully concealed in skirtings of display cabinets. The space originally had only one pendant light per structural bay, with nothing else cluttering the ceiling. Looking to restore the clarity of the space, KDa custom designed donut-shaped light fittings that followed the one-per-bay pattern – theses fittings both up-light the crisp ceiling and and down-light the display cabinets.

In the zone at the centre of the Wonder Room, there was a need for low cabinets for the display of items such as fine jewellery, luxury mobile phones, and over thirty exclusive watch brands. Rather than a sea of glass cabinets all at the same height, they conceived an irregular layout of cases resembling a miniature townscape that shoppers could wander through to explore the products on display. As with the concession stores, KDa considered the question of how to unify the irregular layout of display cabinets, and came up with a solution that combined discipline and freedom in a similar way to the fin wall. They designed a series of cabinets composed of blocks of glass and high-gloss lacquer. Arranged in a subtle colour gradation across the rooms, some of the lacquered blocks have been finished in beautifully crafted mother-of-pearl, carbon-fibre, gold leaf, or silver leaf, adding a further touch of wonder to the room.

The interior of the glass display cases has been carefully designed – a stainless steel frame carries internal lighting, and the runners that support the display pads have been concealed. KDa developed guidelines that allowed the various brands some flexibility in how they displayed their products on these pads, but which ensured the overall effect of the space was harmonious and elegant.

Along the Orchard Street side of the Wonder Room, two special Selfridges-run zones have been created behind the wall of fins – the Concept Store and the Wonder Bar. The Concept Store displays more youthful and fashion-oriented goods – exploring this flexible space, shoppers might find anything from haute-couture sunglasses to exotic rare books to super-cool Kid Robot limited editions. Timber boxes in Jenga-like stacks lead patrons up to a wine bar on a mezzanine floor tucked up close to the grand capitals of the Selfridges’ extraordinary Corinthian columns. Sitting in the Wonder Bar’s plush interior – its timber linings are accented by panels of wine-red lacquer – customers can treat themselves to some of the finest wines from around the world, dispensed from a jukebox-style vending machine.

San Francisco‐based Pacific Eagle and local entitlement partner SKS Partners are proposing a 36-story mixed-use residential and hotel property at 555 Howard, designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW), in collaboration with Mark Cavagnero Associates. The LEED Platinum-targeted project will include 69 residential units, a 255-room luxury hotel, meeting and ballroom facilities, a spa and fitness center, ground floor restaurant, a skybar/café on the top floor that will be open to the public and a rooftop public open space with panoramic views of the city and bay.

Designed by the Renzo Piano Building Workshop, in collaboration with Mark Cavagnero Associates, 555 Howard is a careful study of proportion and lightness. The tower’s 36 story massing is divided visually into three slender extrusions by transparent connecting voids. The overarching language for the façade is designed to be intelligent, and sustainable, a reflection of the ambitious LEED Platinum target. The façade is composed of a series of transparent glass layers that provide articulation and vibration. The design gives careful consideration to maximize natural light at its base, making the lower floors transparent and inviting to the public to allow for enhanced indoor/outdoor connectivity and permeability to the adjacent, proposed public park under the bus ramp. The ground floor is designed to be a lively urban space to “leave to the city and let the street encroach.”

Additionally, the public will be encouraged to visit the park-like rooftop open space and enjoy the view, again a piece of the City, but in this case elevated to create a mental and physical suspension from the street level, with a café and an enclosed bar on the floor below. The rooftop space is protected by 20’ tall glass wind screens and mature, dense trees to ensure comfort for all visitors.

Sustainability has been a guiding design principal for the project team since inception. 555 Howard is targeting LEED Platinum certification, the highest level of sustainable certification available from the United States Green Building Council. The project anticipates implementing numerous energy, water, material, and design efficiency measures, and air quality enhancements to minimize its impact on the environment. Located a block from the Transbay Transit Center, the site has excellent proximity to public transit, boasts a Ride Score of 100, Bike Score of 97 and Walk Score of 94. The project also has 95 bike stalls for residents, guests and visitors.

555 Howard will create over 700 new jobs: 400 construction jobs in the building trades and 300 permanent hotel-related jobs. The project will create much need housing including 15% affordable housing units and will contribute extensively to the City in the form of impact fees toward transportation, affordable housing (in addition to the on-site units), open space (in addition to the on-site open space), child care and schools. 555 Howard will also contribute public artwork to the City and ongoing revenue through Transit Occupancy Tax, participation in the Transit Center Community Facilities District, property and other taxes.

Pacific Eagle is a San Francisco‐based real estate manager with a more than 20‐year track record investing in hotels, offices, and condominiums in the United States. Pacific Eagle uses a comprehensive and vertically integrated real estate model and has experience in acquisition, disposition, asset management, leasing, property management and construction management. The company was established in 1992 as the U.S. presence of Great Eagle Holdings Limited, one of the world’s leading real estate investment and development companies. It also owns Langham Hotels, a global luxury hotel chain.

Founded in 1992, SKS is an investor, developer and advisor of commercial real estate properties in the western United States. The firm’s excellent reputation and investment track record culminate from its strong operating capability, extensive network of relationships and its consistent ability to identify emerging demographic and market trends in advance of other market participants. Whether acting as investor or advisor, SKS performs with integrity.

The Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) is an international architectural practice with offices in Paris and Genoa. The company’s staff has the expertise to provide full architectural design services, from concept design stage to construction supervision. Their design skills also include interior design, town planning and urban design, landscape design and exhibition design services.

Since its formation in 1981, RPBW has successfully undertaken and completed over 120 projects across Europe, North America, Australasia and East Asia. Among its best known works are: the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas; the Kansai International Airport Terminal Building in Osaka; the Kanak Cultural Center in New Caledonia; the Beyeler Foundation in Basel; the Rome Auditorium; the Maison Hermès in Tokyo; the Morgan Library and the New York Times Building in New York City; and the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. Recently completed works include the Shard in London, and the New Whitney Museum in New York. The quality of RPBW’s work has been recognized by over 70 design awards, including major awards from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

Mark Cavagnero Associates is a San Francisco-based architecture firm with a focus on civic, cultural, and institutional work as well as public-oriented urban commercial, educational, and residential projects. The firm has more than 60 professionals, committed to the practice of architecture through a collaborative and creative process engaging both clients and the public. Since its establishment in 1988, the firm has provided full range of design services, from programming and master planning through design and construction for projects large and small, built locally in California, nationally and internationally.

The firm’s work has garnered more than 100 design awards from local, state, national and international organizations. Mark Cavagnero Associates was honored with the AIA California Council’s 2012 Firm Award, the highest honor that the organization bestows upon a firm, recognizing distinguished architecture and a culture of mentoring the next generation of architects. Mark Cavagnero has also been honored with the AIA California Council’s 2015 Maybeck Award, a lifetime achievement award.

The Greenwich Peninsula is one of London’s major urban development areas, including over 10,000 new homes, over 300,000 m2 of office space and the conversion of the former Millennium Dome into the indoor arena renamed The O2.

Responding to a cross-party drive to increase the use of Combined Heat & Power (CHP) across the UK and to realize a vision of decentralized energy power generation in London, the Greenwich Peninsula Low Carbon Energy Centre houses technically advanced boilers and CHP that provide heat energy to the businesses and homes due to be built on the Peninsula in the coming years and is part of the Peninsula’s Sustainability Strategy.

The Energy Centre is the largest new build residential heat network in Europe, saving 15,000 – 20,000 tonnes of carbon every year.

The 3000 m2 Greenwich Peninsula Low Carbon Energy Centre, situated in a prominent location at the entrance to the peninsula, adjacent to the Blackwall Tunnel Approach, is a highly visible and important new landmark that demonstrates the applicants’ and stakeholders’ commitment to sustainable and affordable energy for all. Heat energy will be distributed via a District Heating Network (DHN) from the Energy Centre to each plot across the development.

Designed by British artist Conrad Shawcross, the cladding of the 49 metre high stack tower unites sophisticated engineering and complex optic research to create an impressive sculptural concept on a huge scale: The cladding for the structure is formed of hundreds of triangular panels that fold and flow across the surface of the tower forming complex geometric patterns that visually break up the flat planes to create an uneven, sculpted surface that plays with the vanishing points and perspective.

To demystify the process of energy generation, the Energy Centre’s machine room and flexible ancillary office accommodation is supplemented with a Visitor Centre offering an interactive educational experience for prearranged groups of visitors. Construction started in 2015, and has completed in 2016, and the building footprint further allows for flexibility in adopting new energy technology over the building’s substantial lifetime.

Simultaneously with the Energy Centre, C.F. Møller has also designed one of the new housing developments within the Greenwich Peninsula site for the site-wide developer Knight Dragon.

C.F. Møller is one of Scandinavia’s leading architectural firms; with 90 years of award winning work in the Nordics and worldwide.

Simplicity, clarity and unpretentiousness, the ideals that have guided our work since the practice was established in 1924, are continually re-interpreted to suit individual projects, always site-specific and combined with sustainable, innovative and socially responsible design solutions.

Over the years, we have won a large number of national and international competitions and major architectural awards. Our work has been on show at architectural exhibitions all over the world as well as published in books and leading professional journals.

With our integrated design approach which seamlessly blends urban design, landscape, building design and building component design, C.F. Møller has received much acclaim for international projects of reference like the unique University Campus in Aarhus, the National Gallery in Copenhagen, the Darwin Centre at the Museum of Natural History in London, the Akershus University Hospital in Oslo, the 2012 Olympics’ Athletes Village in London and many others.

We have a strong tradition for social and environmental responsibility in a democratic architecture accessible to all. We regard resource-consciousness, healthy project finances and good craftsmanship as essential elements in our work, all the way from master plans to the design of components.

Today C.F. Møller has app. 350 employees. Our head office is in Aarhus, Denmark and we have branches in Copenhagen, Aalborg, Oslo, Stockholm and London.

The Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson School of Entrepreneurship at the IDC Herzliya is situated in the northeast corner of campus on a flat site in a small Mediterranean coastal city near Tel Aviv. The upper floors are open and transparent, looking directly out and over the university foliage while the lower floors relate more intimately to the scale of the immediate campus gardens. Students enter the building through an 8 meter high arcade.

The building is home to a first-of-its-kind institution in Israel dedicated to the study and support of entrepreneurship.

At the ground floor, a public lobby and student lounge doubles as a gallery space for exhibitions highlighting the “Startup Nation”, a term coined to describe Israel’s disproportionately high number of entrepreneurship ventures. Directly accessible from this double-height space are a 165-seat lecture hall, a refreshment kiosk, the school’s administrative offices and a glass-encased conference room for the most important meetings and presentations.

Above the more public lower floors are 3 floors of specialized classrooms, accelerator spaces, staff offices, meeting rooms and support facilities.

The architecture of the Adelson School of Entrepreneurship embodies the spirit of innovation and transformative thinking, central to its mission. The plan is efficient and modular with tall spaces designed to be conveniently reconfigured to support a variety of teaching environments. The building is an extended metaphor for the entrepreneurial mindset – clear, straightforward, no frills while simultaneously assertive, dynamic, passionately creative and humane.

One special department in the school is the media innovation laboratories or “miLabs”. This department conducts research and instruction in new media, software design, robotics, technology and human-computer interactions. Their open space lab accommodates both frontal and group learning while support spaces at the periphery allow for both intensive individual/small group research and wet/dry workshops to build state-of-the-art prototypes. Because the activities of this lab have a certain performative quality, the spaces are united with large acoustic glass walls that nurture an atmosphere of enthusiasm and collective creativity.

The architects’ design of the building promotes an idea that the school can be read as both a conceptual and literal factory for the production of creativity and collaborative pursuits. However, unlike a actual factory that deals strictly with the efficient processing of materials into useful objects, the raw materials of this school are people who want to work together collaboratively, efficiently and in a spirit of opportunity and inspiration.

long-span beams stretching between the east core along the building length across to the west façade that frees up the floor plan underneath

the tall spaces that permit both the fabrication of large objects and radical changes to the floor section to permit new uses

the encasement of all of core building systems (vertical transportation, plumbing/HVAC/electrical and communication services, restrooms, support rooms and security rooms) within a narrow volume aligning one side of the floor plan

The conceptual heart of the building is a continuous network of social spaces designed to encourage collaboration, networking and student-faculty interactions. These spaces are tied together by a suspended steel central staircase detailed with thin stainless steel cable mesh to maximize translucency.

The glazed west façade is protected with a series of vertical sun louvers that baffle the strong afternoon sun while both promoting views of the campus landscapes and allowing natural light to penetrate deep into the building. The design uses 50 identical vertical louver units made from painted steel and aluminum XPM mesh (by Italfim Ltd). Each louver unit is 16.5 meters high and 1.35 meters deep, spaced 75 cm apart. The architects strategically selected the appropriate mesh pattern and orientation thereby creating a simple smart filter for the sun light with the blades of the mesh turning slightly to the north. The mesh blocks the light coming from the southwest while permitting views straight on and to the northwest. A small amount of diffuse and reflected light still penetrates from the southwest giving the louver system a lightness and airiness.

David S. Robins, AIA, is an American born architect with dual American-Israeli citizenship who has spent half of his professional career practicing in Israel. With undergraduate and graduate degrees in Architecture from Yale College (’89) and The Yale School of Architecture (’94), David first became interested in Israeli architecture while studying with Ada Karmi-Melamede at an advanced design studio at Yale in 1993. He joined Ada’s office the following year and would work for her firm, Ada Karmi-Melamede and Partners Architects, for the next seven years culminating in a leadership role in the Life Science Complex at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev completed in 2001. David and Ada subsequently co-authored a book on that project published by Birhaüser Press in 2003. He has worked internationally for renowned firms including as an Associate in the office of Richard Meier & Partners, Architects in New York and as an Associate Principal in the office of Moshe Safdie in Boston and Singapore. David led award-winning projects in these offices in the US, Europe and Asia before returning to Israel in 2011 with his Israeli wife, the architect, Shirly Gilat Robins. He has led architectural design studios at the Tel Aviv University Azrieli School of Architecture and currently heads the Technology section of the Final Project Studio at the Technion School of Architecture and Town Planning. In 2013, David opened his architectural studio, robinsalliance, which focuses on the design and production of works of architecture for clients both in Israel and abroad.

Dan Price is an architect and educator. He graduated from the Technion School of Architecture and Town Planning, Israel Institute of Technology in 1982 and received his Master’s Degree from the Porter School of Environmental Studies at Tel Aviv University in 2013. Currently Dan is a PhD candidate at Tel Aviv University researching social housing in Israel between 1948-1967. Dan worked in partnership with architect Ada Karmi-Melamede for 15 years and together they designed numerous projects including public buildings and university campuses. With Ada Karmi-Melamede he co-authored ‘Architecture in Palestine during the British Mandate (1917-1948)’ published in Hebrew in 2011 and in English in 2014, the product of 25 years of research and investigation. He is a principal and founding partner of Price Piltzer Yawitz Architects which is presently involved in complex design interventions on various scales from master planning for urban and industrial renewal to the detailed design of a private museum integrated into the historic urban fabric of Old Jaffa. For 10 years Dan taught design and building technology at the Tel Aviv University Azrieli School of Architecture and is currently teaching design at WIZO Haifa and the Technion School of Architecture and Town Planning.

David and Dan met while David worked with Dan in Ada Karmi-Melamede’s office from 1994 to 2001. Upon David’s return to Israel in 2011, David and Dani developed a new series of technology studio courses at the Tel Aviv University Azrieli School of Architecture. Beyond their 20+ year history as both colleagues and friends, David and Dan continue their passionate dialog about the state of Israeli architecture and how to improve it through both formal and informal collaborations.

It is a wonderful coincidence that we started work designing the Science Museum’s Mathematics Gallery in the bicentennial year of the birth of Ada Lovelace, a pioneering woman in the history of computers and of ‘poetic science’. Her inspirational influence on our approach to the design of the project, from inception to completion, cannot be overstated. Just as her Notes unravelled the abstract world of the analytical engine and its logic to generations beyond, we hope the design of the Mathematics Gallery complements the curatorial ambitions to inspire and engage further generations with the instinctive and physical aspects of mathematics. Collections like those housed within the Science Museum in London are instrumental in allowing the human mind to explore the many dimensions of innovation. The new group of objects on display in the Gallery is meticulously curated to narrate seemingly everyday moments in innovation driven by mathematics.

Our design for the Gallery responds to the ambition of David Rooney and his team to present mathematics not as an academic concept, but as a practice that influences technology and enables the environment around us to be transformed. Mathematics and its tools have always played a central role in the evolution of the human understanding of nature and the constructed world: for example, Sir Isaac Newton’s methods to derive the laws of gravitation, Henri Poincaré’s extension of the Cartesian geometries to the planetary system and Lord Kelvin’s use of the mathematical technique of curve-fitting to predict the tides.

Mathematics forms one of the cornerstones of the foundations of computing and of scientific methods of research within architectural practices. It has had a profound influence on architectural shapes and forms (known as morphology) and their origins, basing them on sound structural principles. The enhancement of the performative aspects of design with respect to the built environment, its manufacture and ultimately the comfortable navigation by people within these environments, forms an integral part of building on these foundations.

With historical training in geometric methods to understand morphology, architects are well positioned to contribute to this collaborative endeavour of delivering information-rich settings that support the complex needs of humans within the built environment. A large proportion of our own work emerges from our fascination with mathematical logic and geometry, with advances in design technology enabling us to rethink form and space. The fluid surfaces and structures of each project thus generated are defined by scientific innovations. Our design for the Mathematics Gallery realises such an effort.

The successful flight of the Handley Page aeroplane in the 1929 Guggenheim competition, with its short take-off and landing distances, represents a triumphal moment in the accessibility of aviation to ordinary men and women. The spatial organisation of the Gallery places a central emphasis on this important product of British aviation, and the transformational capacity of mathematics and science, by taking inspiration from one of the key moments in the flight of the plane and the concepts of aerodynamics embodied within.

While mathematical logic and geometry can provide an intuitive model to understand the natural world, computational tools allow us to examine scenarios that enable a nuanced understanding of the mechanisms of nature. Using the principles of a mathematical approach known as computational fluid dynamics which acts as an organisational guide, the layout of the Gallery allows for the virtual lines of airflow to be manifested physically. The positioning of the more than 100 historical objects, and the production of robust arch-like benches using robotic manufacture, all embody the mathematical spirit of the brief. The resulting spatial experience created by these components within the Winton Gallery enables visitors to see some of the many actual and perceivable ways in which mathematics touches our lives.

Zaha Hadid founded Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) in 1979. Each of ZHA’s projects builds on over thirty years of exploration and research in the interrelated fields of urbanism, architecture and design. Hadid’s pioneering vision redefined architecture for the 21st century and captured imaginations across the globe. Her legacy is embedded within the DNA of the design studio she created as ZHA’s projects combine the unwavering belief in the power of invention with concepts of connectivity and fluidity.

Lighting at Arup brings together art, science and technology. Their global team of designers create expressive, sustainable and award-winning concepts in light. Understanding the interplay of structural form and lighting, Arup works with architects and artists to provide original conceptual designs. Their technical knowledge ensures that concepts become viable solutions.

In December 2007, along with five other architectural firms, OMA was invited by Chelsfield deputy chairman Sir Stuart Lipton to consider the potential of the Commonwealth Institute site. OMA’s proposal sought to save the grade II* listed building by reinjecting life into the modernist monument, the new home for London’s Design Museum, while retaining its distinctive copper roof and parabolic form. OMA with Allies and Morrison were the architects responsible for the design of the refurbished structural shell and external envelope of the building. The project required a close working relationship with Design Museum interior architects, John Pawson.

Significant and complex refurbishment works were carried out, including the wholesale reconfiguration of the structure and basement excavation to increase floor area and organisational efficiency to suit the needs of the Design Museum, while balancing the retention of the dramatic views to the underside as agreed with heritage officers. The refurbishment was realised while retaining the renowned parabolic copper roof in-situ, which required significant engineering skill from Arup and the contractor, Mace.

The facades have been completely replaced to fulfil contemporary technical building standards. The glazing was redesigned and replaced to retain the pattern of the fenestration and the blue-glass appearance of the original RHWL building. This new system permits controlled daylight into and views out of future museum spaces. Original stained glass panels were removed, refurbished and reinstated to be enjoyed by future visitors to the Museum.

The setting of the Design Museum has been designed with landscape architects West 8. Original features of the Commonwealth Institute have been painstakingly researched and reinterpreted back into the contemporary design with significant trees retained along the edge of Holland Park and Kensington High Street.

The Commonwealth Institute refurbishment project has been realised as an essential part of the adjacent Holland Green development by Chelsfield LLP and Ilchester Estates, a striking arrangement of three stone cubes that respond to the geometry and grid of the retained museum building, providing 54 residential apartments placed within a highly sensitive urban / park context and also designed by OMA and Allies and Morrison.

Reinier de Graaf joined OMA in 1996. He is responsible for building and masterplanning projects in Europe, Russia, and the Middle East, including Holland Green in London (completed 2016), the new Timmerhuis in Rotterdam (completed 2015), G-Star Headquarters in Amsterdam (completed 2014), De Rotterdam (completed 2013), and the Norra Tornen residential towers in Stockholm.

In 2002, he became director of AMO, the think tank of OMA, and produced The Image of Europe, an exhibition illustrating the history of the European Union. He has overseen AMO’s increasing involvement in sustainability and energy planning, including Zeekracht: a strategic masterplan for the North Sea; the publication in 2010 of Roadmap 2050: A Practical Guide to a Prosperous, Low-Carbon Europe with the European Climate Foundation; and The Energy Report, a global plan for 100 percent renewable energy by 2050, with the WWF.

De Graaf has recently worked extensively in Moscow, overseeing OMA’s proposal to design the masterplan for the Skolkovo Centre for Innovation, the ‘Russian Silicon Valley,’ and leading a consortium which proposed a development concept for the Moscow Agglomeration: an urban plan for Greater Moscow. He recently curated two exhibitions, On Hold at the British School in Rome in 2011 and Public Works: Architecture by Civil Servants (Venice Biennale, 2012; Berlin, 2013).

URBANLOGIC won a Silver Award in the Mixed-Use Category for their Sichuan Arts Factory and Innovation Center.

The winners were selected by a panel of esteemed experts including Troy C. Therrien, Curator of Architecture and Digital Initiatives at the Guggenheim Foundation and Museum; Peggy Deamer, Professor of Architecture at Yale University; Ben Van Berkel, Principal of UNStudio and Professor at Harvard University Graduate School of Design; Alan Ricks and Michael Murphy, Founders of Mass Design Group; and many more.

Struggling with rising production costs, China is gradually loosing its status as the world’s workbench. Many private and state-owned companies are upgrading their businesses from mass production to design, marketing and cultural services.

It is in this context that the client – a successful manufacturer of glass products – asked the architects to find an appropriate design response for upgrading his factory into a whole-scale arts production and innovation center.

The brief comprised five components: production facilities, a sales- and auction hall, a small museum, individual studios for artists and a boutique hotel for VIP clients and guests who wish to stay overnight.

The main design challenge was to find a common language for the wide variety of uses. Inspired by the flexibility and strong yet neutral character of industrial buildings, the architects chose a warehouse typology for all five programmatic components. By using simple, industrial building materials, such as exposed concrete frames and concrete bricks, a neutral canvas is created that can be used for both production and product exhibition, and- with additional interior lining- for the boutique hotel.

By extruding the section of a typical 3-nave warehouse across the length of the site, a continuous, undulating roofscape is formed that stretches across all function areas. Rather than re-starting the pitch at the eaves of each nave, the roof “oscillates” like a frequency curve, thus creating both pitched and butterfly-shaped roofs, with peaks at different heights. As the valleys of the curve coincide with the gutters of the naves, the roofs are curved slightly upwards towards the eaves, resembling a traditional Sichuan-style roof.

As a further feature of traditional Chinese architecture, and to protect the buildings from their harsh industrial surroundings, the architects drew on an introverted courtyard typology. The series of naves is punctured by four courtyards, each one with an individual character and serving a different purpose.

The biggest courtyard, the oval “central plaza”, is a garden surrounding a central lawn, which will be used for open-air shows and screenings, and to host events. It creates a buffer zone between hotel and factory, which absorbs the noise and dust from the production. A second oval courtyard is placed between the southern and the central nave, and “balances” the central plaza diagonally across. It accommodates a sculpture garden, for tall glass and other sculptures. The third oval virtually extends across the site boundary, and carves the monumental 80m-wide, representative main entrance. The three ovals are rotated against each other with their long axis, so as to relate to and communicate with each other. A fourth, rectangular courtyard serves as the semi-private garden of the hotel.

All four courtyards are lined with a screen of vertical bamboo elements. The soft timber lining cushions and distinguishes these spaces as precious, setting them apart from the more industrial character of the prefabricated concrete cladding of the warehouses.

The four courtyards are traversed in a sequence from public to private, reflecting the layout of ancient Chinese palaces not dissimilar to Beijing’s Forbidden City. At each junction, the route shifts across diagonally, thus taking up the theme of the Chinese ghost wall.

URBANLOGIC Ltd are an award-winning Asian-European architecture and urban design firm based in Hong Kong and Berlin. Their directors are German and British, and have worked on projects in more than 20 countries.

Spanning the disciplines of architecture, urban planning and development, urban design and project management, they combine practical work with a strong interest in theory and research, emphasising each project’s socio-economic and cultural context.

100% Design, the UK’s largest design trade show, announces its line-up of specially commissioned installations and features, reflecting both conceptually and physically this year’s theme of ‘experience’. Each installation will play on the senses to map a multi-sensory journey through the show, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in contemporary product design and be inspired by the possibilities enabled by great design.

The Central Bar at 100% Design has long been a hub for networking, a symbolic destination at the heart of both the show itself and the wider design industry. This year the 100% Design team has brought together a stream of uprights with colour scales adding drama to the central space, defining the area and providing a moment of shelter. The dramatic overhead installation is intended to provide a focal point for the entire show, surrounded by specially devised fins that define the entire space.

Accompanying the Central Bar is the Arper BloggersLounge, which offers a tranquil place for 100% Design digital press to observe, gather and reflect at a slower pace than the show’s other areas.

A highlight in the Design and Build area in the upper gallery is a special installation by design icon Ron Arad and hosted by LG Display. Made of OLED light panels, the artwork will represent a perfect blend between the state-of-the-art lighting technology and artistry that can be applied to various spaces from high-end residential buildings to premium and luxury retail shops.

Entrance: The ‘Design Path’ and Soundscape

The installation ‘Design Path‘ is commissioned by 100% Design in collaboration with Dutch wood flooring manufacturer Hakwood. Located at the show entrance, this 15 metre long trail meanders across the exhibition floor exploring vibrations and water patterns. Visitors will walk over and along the path which consists of 943 pieces of Hakwood European oak intricately woven into the iconic herringbone style which comes to form wavelets across the floor. The colour pallet used pays homage to the variety of shades found within water in motion – the garnet red pieces eluding to unexpected shades created by reflections of surroundings.

At 100% Design 2016 Hakwood (stand E479) will launch ‘Wall Tiles‘, a new and innovative product that uses a hanging system for easy installation, enabling architects and designers to create bespoke feature walls.

Before entering Olympia’s Grand Hall, visitors can experience a design-inspired soundtrack ushering them through the registration area. Designed by leading architectural practice BDP, this feature is a key part of sensory design and will demonstrate how soundscape can deliver a range of benefits: enhance a space and deliver the desired atmosphere, encourage sales, even provide health and recuperation benefits.

On arrival, visitors will be welcomed at bespoke reception desks by MDD, who have supplied counters to institutions and businesses around the world, including the Louvre Museum and The White House.

The Auditorium at 100% Design has been a stand-out commission for a series of leading designers in recent years. As the intellectual heart of the show, the space is intended to provide a dramatic and inspiring venue within which to experience the impressive talks programme presented by the Design Museum.

This year Miska Miller-Lovegrove, the London-based architect and partner of one of the UK’s leading design and architecture companies Lovegrove Studio, was commissioned to design the space sponsored by LG Display. She brings her experience of working across public spaces, installations and exhibitions to bear on a dramatic design for this year’s auditorium. The open space is inspired by the acoustic fabric Vescom, stretched and stitched at angles to create a ‘translucent acoustic nest’.

100% Design & Build: The Materials Cloud bar, The Darkroom and The Forum

The Materials Cloud, designed by Studio Glowacka with specialist fabricators 2MZ, is a new focus for the Design & Build section of the show, located on the upper floor. The inspiration is taken from modular toys popular in the 1970s, which interlock to create shapes and structures.

Taking shape as a geometric orb of interlocking plywood hexagons, the bar is intended as a social space that alludes to playful exploration in construction and the experience of being at the centre of a key part of 100% Design. Transforming from coffee spot to lively bar as the day progresses, the Materials Cloud is set to be a visual highlight in the show.

Overlooking the balcony on the upper floor is The Darkroom, which provides the visual component of ‘experience’ through its showcase of some of the best technical and architectural lighting products available, including a suspended lighting feature.

The Design & Build section is also home to The Forum sponsored by RIBA Appointments. The space has been supported by Trove, with bespoke wallpaper to foster connections through high quality live talks, debates and discussions which have been curated by journalist and curator Laura Snoad.

The Design & Build area will be reached through the central staircase, sponsored by Barrisol, reflecting the colours and graphics developed for this year’s 100% Design.

The interiors section of 100% Design represents a comprehensive assortment of furniture, lighting and interior products from across the globe but as a showcase for some of the best produced design from specialist UK furniture makers and manufacturers.

The Wood Awards: Excellence in British Architecture & Product Design will showcase the shortlisted projects and products of their Building, Furniture and Product competitions. This includes twenty architectural designs in wood by Foster + Partners amongst others. The interiors shortlist of 12 projects features two bespoke designs, six production and four student designs – all made of wood.

Another prestigious award, Design Guild Mark, awarded by The Furniture Makers’ Company, will present the 2016 winners. The award recognises the highest standards in the design of furniture for volume production by some of the finest designers working in Britain, or British designers working abroad. Entries were judged by an independent panel of leading industry professionals including Sebastian Conran, Philippa Prinsloo, Simon Alderson, Paul Tanner and Barbara Chandler.

Visitors will also get the chance to see winner of the New Designers 100% Design Award, Addax by Matthew Pope, selected from the very best in emerging talent at this year’s New Designers. Addax is a modular piece of furniture for young adults for inner city living where space is at a premium. Straightforward to disassemble and reassemble, the sofa allows to be moved effortlessly up flights of stair as it consist of modular sections which can be replaced and added.

In the heart of the French countryside and near the town of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, where Van Gogh painted over 150 of his most well-known works, a London family has created its perfect home-from-home. The detached house and grounds, re-modelled by David Price Design with a new extension, terraces and fun additions – including a boules pitch – feature an interior inspired by the rich colours of the Mediterranean and showcasing a wonderful, eclectic array of furnishings and accessories, variously inherited from previous owners and sourced anew by the home’s new owners via local Provençale markets, Kempton Park Antiques Market in UK and from holidays further afield.

The traditional interiors palette in this part of France has always tended to be cooling white walls, with colour introduced by the furniture and fittings, but the home’s new owners wanted to be a little more daring and contemporary in their treatment:

‘When we first bought the house’ the new owner explained, ‘the rooms already had very individual colours and were referred to by those who knew it as the pink room, purple room and so on. Whilst I loved the idea of colour, the palette was a little too pale and peachy for our tastes, so we decided to be bolder and use some really jewel-like tones, especially in the upstairs rooms, in order to create a richer Mediterranean feel.’

The owners then commissioned British designer David Price of David Price Design – architecture, interiors and landscaping designers with offices both on the Cote d’Azur and much closer to hand, in Les Baux de Provence – to help achieve the major remodelling of the property and grounds that would result in the idyllic holiday home the couple, their young adult daughters and friends now love to stay in, visiting as often as they can to get away from the stresses of city life.

‘It couldn’t be more different in look and feel to our London house, which is completely white on the inside’, the new owner explained. ‘I think city life demands that a home is an oasis of calm once the front door is shut, whereas the minute we arrive here, the accent is immediately on relaxation, entertaining and opening the house up to its natural surroundings.’

The original house was in a reasonable state of repair when purchased, but not yet fit for purpose, necessitating the re-organisation of the landscaping to; new, additional space to be created and for the interior to be re-sequenced to suit the family’s needs. David PriceDesign was commissioned both to renovate and extend the property; to re-arrange access and circulation; to re-plan the external landscaping and pool area and create a new interior that would serve as a perfect backdrop for the owners’ decorating vision.

‘We designed a brand new two-storey extension’, David Price explained, ‘which was created seamlessly and using traditional masonry techniques, so that the house very much looks as if it was all built at the same time. The big idea for the new spaces was to make the most of the early morning sun in the east, with a new guest bedroom and TV room downstairs and a master suite upstairs, which features the most wonderful yellowy-orange Zellige Moroccan tiling in the bathroom, which catches the early morning sun perfectly. Externally, the ground floor has a gently-arched window, or an ‘anse de pannier’, as it’s called locally, on its southern face, which opens directly onto the terraced area, whilst the first storey features a tall, thin rectangular window. These are both very typical of the region, particularly in the designs of barns or haylofts and are a further way of making the extension fit smoothly with the house’s original feel.’

‘David made the whole process fun’, the new home-owner added. ‘We went together to choose all of the stone, the beams or the flooring for the extension and of course he knows his way around all the best suppliers and reclaim yards in the area. We also used stone that was already in the garden in some instances.’

External works included completely new landscaping for the south-facing gardens, working with and around some wonderful existing trees, including a mature plane tree in the gravelled terrace area; the design of a new boules pitch directly outside of the new extension and a series of modifications to the existing pool house and pool. The stone surrounds of the existing pool were renovated and a new, low stone wall was erected between the pool and the house. The pool house was extended to match the existing building and features a new bruyère covering (made locally from woven heather).

External landscaping also included the creation of new paths and walkways to make the most of views of and access to the newly-reconfigured building, along with a new, shaded car-port area. After leaving the car, guests now arrive at the north façade of the house via a new path with granite binding and lighting, with a newly-planted garden before them full of traditional plants and trees from the region, from rows of lavender and roses to olive trees. The front entrance area has also been reworked, with a new stone surround and skylight above to create more of a sense of arrival, whilst all north-facing windows were painted to match the new door.

Once inside, the most major works, beyond the new extension, concerned the creation of a completely new kitchen and back kitchen, along with adjoining cloakroom and laundry room, whilst the connecting dining room floor was re-laid with Perigord stone. The new kitchen features terracotta floor tiles and bespoke, painted timber furniture (created by David Price Design), as well as further Zellige tiling used around the cooker.

‘A lot of the accessories purchased for the kitchen were inspired by the garden and our immediate surroundings’ the client explained. ‘The wall display of ceramics, for example, features butterflies and plates from Anthropologie with a praying mantis plant design, which were inspired by seeing a praying mantis swallowing a moth in the garden one day! It’s all still evolving and I love the idea of the interior being a really organic mix of things we had made, inherited, found or may find still.’

As visitors pass through the kitchen, dining room and living space into the new extension, light floods from the TV room window into the living area and affords views through and beyond to a grass path, leading to an apple orchard and a newly-laid east-facing terrace with a pergola to catch the early morning sun. French windows also open out onto a small terraced area just outside of the kitchen, as well as a more major south-facing gravelled area also, with several sets of tables and chairs in each place for outdoor dining – shaded or unshaded, depending on the heat – to sit with a coffee and read the papers or just enjoy the garden.

Internally, the house’s progression towards colour begins very gently in the extended kitchen, dining and living spaces, which mostly feature white walls and traditional timber-beam ceilings, with just the odd feature wall, curtain, item of furniture or soft furnishing in colour – in gentle shades of oatmeal, grey or pale blue, using paint colours such as Farrow & Ball’s ‘pigeon’. Large-scale artworks and interesting objects are used sparingly to add drama and include a series of old farming tools from the American mid-west, left behind by Dee, an American painter and the home’s owner-before-last. Wrought-iron rails that turn in on themselves and which are typical of the region were commissioned for the curtains, whilst feature lighting includes large, vintage, industrial shades in the kitchen, nodding to a more urban sensibility.

A sparing hint of yellow in the kitchen in two curtains (with fabrics by Nobilis) and one artwork start to hint at the vibrancy of the guest suite beyond the living room, which includes a bedroom, en suite bathroom and TV lounge, all in the same beautifully-vibrant yellow, which is used for curtains (from Designers’ Guild in London), for feature walls in both the bedroom and bathroom, for the bathroom floor tiles and for velvet cushions in the lounge area of the suite of rooms, with smaller echoes in the vintage light fittings and incidental tables and in the artwork on the walls. A huge-scale yellow artwork by artist and former owner Dee sits above the bed here, for example. The TV lounge also features a set of nine contemporary and vintage, wicker-framed, circular mirrors grouped on one wall, which were sourced variously from Graham & Green in the UK and local ‘brocantes’ in Villeneuve and Beaucaire – also the source of a vintage, geometrically-patterned ceramic side table in this space.

The staircase up to the first floor is lined with framed images from a collection by Paul Smith – numbering eighteen in total, in an eclectic mix of vintage frames – which create another artful and eye-catching grouping, set against a pale grey painted wall with a mid-grey painted balustrade.

To the right, set apart by a narrow corridor, sits the master suite, which includes a very spacious master bedroom in blue-grey tones with hints of pale purple and a linking bath and shower room with the Zellige tiles in a vibrant tangerine catching the eye on the eastern wall, plus a woven light shade in the same colour over the free-standing bath. Basins are set into a long slab in smooth concrete for a more contemporary touch.

There are a further five bedrooms on this floor, painted variously in pale purple, rust and blue-greens, with equally individual bathrooms, decorated in shades of blue with newly-installed wall panelling, for example or featuring existing wallpaper in one instance hand-created from pages of botanical illustrations. The ‘blue’ bedroom has another eye-catching grouping of photos, this time themed around body parts. A variety of terracotta floor tiling throughout has been renovated but maintained.

David Price Design, based both in Mougins on the Cote d’Azur and in Les Baux de Provence, celebrates 25 years’ in business this year as one of the most highly-regarded architecture and design studios in the south of France, working for clients from all over the world. The company specialises in new-build and renovated luxury properties – with services including architecture, interior design and furnishing, as well as pools and landscaping – across the south of France and has also worked internationally and on non-residential schemes, including bars, restaurants and 2011’s high-profile ‘Mougins Museum of Classical Art’.